Hope for the Things to Come

There is something that I think our churches shy away from that could be a great source of hope and purity in Christ's church: eschatology. That's the theological term to talk about "the study of the End." That's right, the end of the world; and I believe that there is great hope in this department for we who know Him. Typically we all shy away from this topic because we're afraid that it will spiral into arguments on the timing of the rapture, the millenial kingdom, the judgments, etc, etc. But in it all, we miss the simple, glorious point: Jesus wins, and He will dwell with us fully in that time.

Jesus, in all His glory from the Father, will come and make all things right. All the heart-longings that ache in us so greatly now will ultimately be satisfied in Him when He returns. He will raise up our bodies, finishing His work of redemption in us, and we will rest in the fullness of life in Him -- things that this fallen earth keeps us from experiencing.

In that day, He will make all things new. He will replace the corruptable with the incorruptable, the destructable with the indestructable, and He will put an end to those things which are shadows now of the things to come. We will see His glory, and it will shine before us as the sun.

In that day, we will know even as we are known. For now we love in part; we see each other dimly; we grasp after mysteries that are clouded by our present frailties. Then we will know a fullness in fellowship with Him and with one another that we can only taste now. In that day, we will be like Him.

The Apostle John tells us that we should be stimulated to purity because of this hope -- the expectation of future glory in His presence, the faith that one day ALL things will be brought to light, and we will be held accountable for all that we say and do (though we shall also receive grace upon grace from Him). In other words, what we do now matters in light of eternity!! And this expectation should affect the choices make today.

The Apostle Paul, as he laid out salvation history, stated the end of all things like this: "He did this [lavished His grace on us] when He revealed to us the secret of His will, according to the good pleasure that He set forth in Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of times, to head up all things in Christ -- things in heaven and the things on earth" (Eph 1:9-10, NET).

The end of the story is simple: Jesus the Messiah will reign in all the earth and in the heavens above, and we will found complete in Him. This is our hope, and this hope should purify us today.